Tag Archives: immigration

Concerned over the failure of the Canada Border Services Agency to remove a known veteran of the notorious Soviet secret police, the KGB, from Canada, the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association today announced that it has engaged the services of a private investigation firm to put a Lutheran church basement in east Vancouver under surveillance:

"According to the Minister of Public Security, the Honourable Vic Toews, this KGB man had no right to enter Canada, and he has no right to remain. He is not a refugee, as confirmed by the Immigration and Refugee Board. His appeal of that finding was dismissed by the Honourable Mr. Justice R. Zinn of the Federal Court of Canada. He should have been removed immediately, but he claimed 'sanctuary' in a pre-prepared bolt-hole in a church basement, even though no 'right of sanctuary' exists in Canadian law. He remains there to this day, nearly three years later, openly defying our country's laws. Repeated calls upon the Government of Canada to enforce the decisions of both the IRB and the Federal Court of Canada have not been acted upon. As a result, we have begun another campaign calling upon Mr. Toews to instruct the CBSA to do their job while letting all MPs and Senators in Parliament know about what needs to be done and why. Until this KGB man is returned to his country of origin, we are placing the site under surveillance. If he attempts to leave his cellar, he will be apprehended and turned over to the RCMP/CBSA.

"It's troubling that the enforcement of Canada's laws is being left to concerned citizens. But this man was a part of the Soviet apparatus, a willing and promoted enabler of a corrupt, undemocratic and violently ruthless secret police force. We must, at a minimum, ensure that the freedoms we enjoy in Canada are shared with the tens of thousands of real refugees who wish to come here."

"Today is an appropriate day for recalling the many millions of people who came to Canada fleeing oppression in their homelands, who then made this country their own, and whose descendants have contributed so much to the creation of an inclusive, welcoming and democratic society here.

"Whether they were east Europeans fleeing Communist tyranny, or Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodians, Tibetans and others escaping similarly oppressive regimes in East Asia, Canada has been enriched by those who came here seeking, and finding, freedom. We hope that the new national museums, namely the Canadian Museum of Immigration (Pier 21) in Halifax, and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) (Winnipeg) will pay particular tribute to these heroic people, victims of Communism, who never gave up the hope that someday their homelands would be free, continue to struggle to secure that end, but who, in the meantime, have given so much of themselves to building up a prosperous Canada.

"Their suffering, their endurance, their dreams and their triumphs must be the central stories told in our national museums."

MEDIA RELEASE
Ukrainian Canadians Criticize Conservative Government for Failure to
Enforce Immigration Laws
For Immediate Release – Ottawa (28 September 2010)
The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) today
called upon the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen
Harper to take immediate steps to remove all veterans of the notorious
Soviet secret police, the KGB, from Canada, initiating a national
postcard campaign to get its message out.
UCCLA’s chairman, Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, said: "No one who served in any
capacity with the KGB is eligible to enter or to remain here. That’s
Canadian law. Public confidence in the integrity and fairness of our
system of immigration control is being undermined by the failure of
this government to remove KGB men known to be in Canada. We expected
the Conservatives, who claim anti-Communist credentials and a law &
order agenda, to at least enforce existing immigration laws. But they
haven’t. That’s scandalous. Canada does not need KGB men as citizens.
All of them should be returned whence they came, immediately."